Grieb named Board chair; County welcomes new rescue unit to Harmony fire station
Osceola County shared stats that showed, by and large, local drivers aren’t heeding school zone speed limits. The county approved a measure Monday to help curb that.
As part of the consent agenda during Monday’s Commission meeting, the board approved a contract with Jenoptik Smart Mobility Solutions to regulate those zones and fine drivers who speed through them.
A new state statute went into effect on July 1 that allows local governments to enforce school zone speed limits through automated speed detection systems.
Drivers who speed in the zone and receive a violation will be fined a minimum of $100. According to the ordinance passed Monday, of that fee, $60 will go to the county, $12 to the School District (“and must be used for school security initiatives, for student transportation, or to improve the safety of student walking conditions”) and $5 retained by the County for the School Crossing Guard Recruitment and Retention Program. The other $23 goes to various state Department of Revenue funds.
The ordinance creates a framework for hearings for drivers who challenge any fines, much in the way local red light camera tickets work, with a hearing officer presiding. The date this will go into effect has yet to be approved; a 30-day “grace period” in which violators will receive warnings will be in place before fines are handed out.
County officials said speeds were monitored in school zones around the county, and in 33 (a third) to 75 (three-quarters) percent of cases depending on school and whether it was the morning or afternoon period, drivers were in violation in the speed zones.
For example, 67 percent violated the morning school zone near Boggy Creek Elementary School on Boggy Creek Road; 69 percent at Parkway Middle School on Florida Parkway; 46 to 51 percent near Sunrise Elementary and Horizon Middle on Ham Brown Road; and 56 percent on Narcoossee Road near Narcoossee Elementary and Middle.
The technology, which will be much like how red light-running cameras work but can capture a vehicles speed, will be installed in all of those areas, as well as near KOA and Deerwood Elementary and BridgePrep Academy in Poinciana; along Pleasant Hill Road near Liberty High and Mater Academy Brighton Lakes; and along Poinciana Boulevard near Poinciana High, Reedy Creek Elementary and the Mater Palms Academy.
At the state of Monday’s meeting, Commissioner Cheryl Grieb was named the chairperson for 2024 to succeed Viviana Janer, and Peggy Choudhry was named vice chair.
Grieb of district 4, who took office in 2014, last served as chair in 2019.
“I thank you for the opportunity to be your chair and help lead this year. With my vice chair by my side we’ll do everything we can to help Osceola County move forward.”
Choudhry, of district 1, took office in 2016, and this is the first time she has been named chair or vice chair.
"I extend my heartfelt gratitude to my fellow board members, for entrusting me with the role of Vice Chair,” Choudhry said. “I am deeply committed to making a positive impact on our community through this position.”
Earlier in the day, the county celebrated the addition of a new Osceola County Fire Rescue to Station 54 in Harmony
Rescue 54 brings the total number of transport units to 16 in the County’s Fire Rescue system. A 2023 SAFER GRANT is helping to fund the 9 people needed for the unit, county officials said.
“Thank you to our firefighter negotiating team on this issue about getting a rescue out at Station 54,” said Commissioner Ricky Booth, whose district 5 represents that area. “We have a rescue in Holopaw and in Deer Run, but there’s a lot of growth happening in between those areas. There are a ton of games that happen at Harmony High School and Middle School, when a rescue is needed, one will be essentially across the street.”
